Ensemble of the "Ulugbek" and "Abdulaziz Khan" madrasahs (1417, 1652)

Ulugbek, the grandson of Amir Timur, was a ruler of the enlightened sort who invested in learning across his state. Besides the well-known madrasah on the Registan in Samarkand and one in Gijduvan, he built a comparable school in Bukhara — the conservative, strict Muslim capital of Central Asia — hoping to make it a centre of learning as well. The hope partly came off: the Bukhara madrasah long served as a model for such schools in other cities.

The building of 1417 was raised by the best architects of the day, Ismail Isfagani and Najmetdin Bukhari. It is balanced and harmonious: severe grandeur with plain finishing, a rectangular block, a high portal on the main front and the traditional inner courtyard. One detail is unusual — the entrance corridor does not lead into the courtyard, as was customary, but forks, to the mosque on one side and the darskhana, the lecture hall, on the other.

A line from the Qur'an is carved on the doors and might stand as Ulugbek's own motto: the pursuit of knowledge is the duty of every Muslim man and woman. Another inscription reads that over the circle of those versed in the wisdom of books, may the doors of divine blessing stand open every day.

Ulugbek made his name as an astronomer, and astral motifs dominate the ornament — his view of the world, put on the walls. Some of the decoration was applied by different techniques: the building has been restored more than once.

Up to eighty students studied here, taking astronomy, mathematics, Arabic and religious subjects, and notable thinkers and poets came out of it. The madrasah now houses a museum on the history of restoring Bukhara's monuments.